Friday, May 04, 2012

Round of a Lifetime

Jacobsen Duo Tee it Up
with Tiger at the Wells Fargo Championship Pro-Am

By Seth Jones

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Troy Murray and Joe Guerra won the
lottery.

Murray, the director of corporate accounts for Jacobsen, and
Joe Guerra, president and CEO of Sequoia Golf, won the first pick at the
Tuesday night pairings party at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow in
Charlotte.

Of course they selected Tiger Woods to join them for 18
holes the next morning.

“One of the most exciting times of my life was looking up at
that board and seeing my name and Troy’s name (with Woods’) and thinking,
‘We’re playing with Tiger Woods tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. We better stop drinking
wine!’” laughed Guerra.

The two had made a list of their top 20 picks, expecting to
land between No. 8 and No. 20. The list was quickly discarded after being drawn
No. 1.

What ensued the next morning was the round of a lifetime.

“From the very first tee there were people. But every next
hole, there seemed to be another 100 people show up out of nowhere,” Murray
says of the gallery. “For me, (the biggest crowd was) No. 16 -- the entire
fairway, both sides, and the entire frame behind the hole, there were people as
far as you could see. It looked like Augusta.”

And their playing partner?

“We were reluctant to go over and engage him in
conversation. But he made us feel comfortable right out of the gate,” Guerra
says. “(Swing coach) Sean Foley was the same, (agent) Mark Steinberg -- they
were with us literally the whole round. (Caddie) Joe LaCava is one of the most
personable guys around. I thought (Tiger) went beyond accommodating. He was
like one of the guys, talking, joking, talking sports.”

Woods was teeing off from the back tees, while the amateurs
used shorter tees. On one hole, after Murray and Guerra started walking, Woods
jogged from the back tee to catch up so he could walk down the fairway with
them.

Both Murray and Guerra are skilled golfers -- Murray plays
to a 4, Guerra is a 12.

“Troy hit it relatively straight. Me, on the other hand, I
was having trouble out of the gate,” Guerra recalls. “I asked Troy, what are
these people thinking? Not only are they standing there lackadaisically, but
people have their back to us, heading in the direction of the next tee to see
Tiger… I’m going, ‘You could get killed!’ We had some errant shots, but we settled
down. We didn’t hit anybody.”

Murray out-drove Woods on a few holes. Woods would chide
Murray, saying, “Come on man, are you kidding me?” “You’re going to destroy my
confidence!” and “You Jacobsen guys must not have to work much!”

As they settled down, their scores improved. The crowd began
to suspect that Murray and Guerra might be celebrities too.

“There’s a retired Chicago Blackhawks player with the same
name (as mine),” Murray says. “My wife was following us and hearing all these
conversations going on. People were Googling us.”

“They started rooting for us. People actually got into it,”
Guerra says. “They probably thought we were closer to Tiger than we were.”

At the end of the round, both were handed an autographed plaque
of the three of them together. But better than a souvenir, they enjoyed a golf
round they’ll never forget. And they also took away a new appreciation for Tiger
Woods.

“I never stopped liking him, (but) I was disappointed for a
while. I’ve always been a fan, I continue to be a fan, and even more so,
because we see the veneer… now that we’ve been beyond that a little bit, I have
a vast appreciation for what he goes through every single day of his life,”
Murray says. “We had a very candid conversation walking to the 18th
tee, walking through this throng of people, lined with kids, every one of them
just want an acknowledgment from this guy. I asked, ‘Do you ever get used to
this?’ He said, ‘No, I don’t get used to it and it’s difficult. When I’m
working, I have to say ‘No,’ 1,000 times a day.’ I can’t imagine living like
that.”

“For me it was another validation for Tiger, and his
importance to our industry. Being the owner of 30 golf courses, managing a
bunch of others, I know he moves the needle, period,” Guerra says. “Whether
people want him to win or lose, everybody’s watching Tiger Woods, and that’s
the point. There’s no other factor that moves the needle that much when it
comes to participation, viewership, etc. We need him. He seems to still enjoy
(golf). I think it’s a win-win situation, I was pleased to see him enjoying the
game as much a he is.”